Do You Need the Things You Want?

I had to go to Wal-Mart yesterday. I try really hard to avoid that place. I want to stand in solidarity with the workers who are exploited all over the world (including their own stores) in the name of lower prices. But I had no choice. It was that or drive 30 miles round trip and stop in four different stores. So I tried very hard to focus on my list and keep my blinders on as I pushed my cart through the newly renovated local store.

It is hard to move about with blinders on, so I couldn’t help by notice all the “crap” (for lack of a better word) for sale. The shelves were loaded with so much excessive junk that no one really “needs”. They allot an enormous amount of shelf space just for plastic containers. I guess if you buy all the crap they’re selling you need lots of containers to store it in.

Several shelves had big signs that said, “As seen on TV” which means all those high-pressure ads that tell you this super-duper-do-it-all bacon separator is only available by calling right now are truly selling you a line. Can I tell you now that you do not need a S’mores maker? Really, no one needs this appliance. If you haven’t got a campfire handy, an oven or a microwave will work just fine. Plop the marshmallow on the graham cracker, heat it until it’s hot and goey and then plop on your chocolate and your graham cracker top and squish. Promise it works – we do it all the time. So don’t spend $34.95 on a machine that will end up in your basement.

Same goes for an Ice Tea Maker. You need a huge plastic appliance to make ice tea? Really? Again, let me save you the $24.95 (this one’s cheaper) – boil some water, pour it over tea bags (I use six) and steep it in your tea pot (or any old pot for that matter, you don’t need a tea pot) for five minutes. If you have a pitcher that can handle the temperature change, (I use a clay pitcher I bought at a college art department sale) fill it with ice and pour the hot tea over it. If you haven’t got a pitcher that can handle the temperature change (glass is not safe and you shouldn’t pour hot water in to plastic), remove the tea bags and let your tea cool a bit before you pour it in your pitcher of ice. I make a pitcher of ice tea most mornings when I brew water for my hot tea. It’s not rocket science and it certainly doesn’t require a special appliance that will most decidedly end up at a yard sale some day. That said, if you think you can’t live without an Ice Tea Maker, look for one at Goodwill or a Yard Sale, there are plenty there looking for good homes.

Wal-Mart irritates me, so I try to see how little I can buy, but there are other stores where I am sorely tempted to buy plenty of things I don’t need. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Borders are two of them. Ever since reading the book, Not Buying It by Judith Levine, and seeing the movie No Impact Man, I’ve been contemplating a shopping fast. I would not starve my children, much less deprive them of their Cheezits, but I’d like to try going a month, or a week, or maybe even just a day without buying anything we don’t truly need. I’d allow myself to buy food and pay the bills, but other than that I’d lock-down the credit card and avoid the ATM machines. I think it would be easy until I think of how difficult it is for me to walk away from a rack of clearance priced Life Is Good t-shirts.

I’ve been mentally practicing for my upcoming fast by seriously considering everything I buy. I ask myself, “Do I need it?” and if my answer is yes, then I ask myself, “Do I really need it?” and that usually makes me say maybe. Then I stand there thinking of whether I have something else that already does the job of my potential purchase. And I think about where the potential purchase will live in my house and then I think about how I’m trying to live simpler and lighter on this earth. I can usually talk myself out of the purchase, but if I can’t then I must really need it. It’s heavy mental gymnastics just to buy a pair of nail clippers or a ream of good paper or even a used book.

Actually I’m lying about the used book. I can always justify a book purchase. I consider books to be in the same category as food. They are a necessity, not a luxury. I know the library is just down the road, but by the time I pay all my late fines (x4 because no one else in this house is any better than me at returning things when they are due), I might as well have bought the book. Besides, most books in this house get multiple uses since we are a family of bookaholics.

What do you really need? Could you spend a month or a week or a day “not buying it”? I’m thinking of picking a week after school lets out for us to “not buy it”. But before that time comes we have to seriously consider the difference between a “need” and a “want”. I’ll let you know how it works out.

Why Bother With Cruelty Free Labels?

Do you know any vegans? Just in case you get your vegetarians and vegans mixed up – here’s the difference, vegans don’t just avoid meat, they also avoid all dairy products and generally don’t use any kind of product made from animals (things like leather, wool, etc.). I don’t think I could ever be a vegan, but they impress me greatly. Being a vegan is not something you do because it’s cool. This seems certain because being a vegan is incredibly difficult.

Last weekend I went out to dinner with a friend who is a vegan. I don’t think I truly appreciated her commitment and the challenge of her lifestyle choice until I looked over a menu from her perspective. I was hankering for a big plate of nachos and the place where we were eating (the Pressroom in Lancaster – highly recommend it!) makes delicious fresh food so I knew the nachos would be laden with veggies and salsa, but they would also be laden with cheese and sour cream– not on the vegan list. The only options were fries, bread and a salad (as long as you hold the creamy dressing, cheese, eggs, etc.). And no butter for that bread either. (She asked for olive oil instead and they were happy to bring it.) Butter's a tough one to avoid. Most restaurants slather butter freely on everything, even their steamed veggies.

It’s not impossible to go out to eat with a vegan, it’s just that at 99% of the restaurants, the menu is pretty limited. Salads get old, even for us salad aficionados. Eating strictly vegan is quite a discipline. I, for one, realize I don’t possess the will power or commitment level to attempt it. But I do admire it.

I’m sure there are lots of reasons for deciding upon a vegan life, but my friend’s powerful commitment to animals drives her dedication. She does not want to feed her body with anything that was created through the torture or misuse of animals. It’s a deep respect for the life of the animal. I am honored that she will eat the eggs from my chickens, knowing that they live a happy, free life and no one tortures them (unless you count the affection heaped upon them by my 7-year-old). I challenged myself to make her some chocolate chip cookies once. It was not easy. I used coconut oil in place of the butter and eggs from my chickens. The only chocolate chips I could find that were vegan friendly were grain-sweetened dark carob chips and I’m not completely sure they were absolutely dairy free. The cookies turned out alright but would have tasted better with a cold glass of milk.

So I have great respect for my friend’s vegan lifestyle. As we were talking on the way to dinner last weekend, though, she brought up another issue dear to her – the cruelty free label. Being a vegan based on your belief in the sacredness of the lives of all creatures also means you don’t use any products that were tested on animals. I admit to being pretty nonchalant about the cruelty free label. It’s not that I don’t love animals (I better love them since I clean up after plenty of them!), it just hasn’t been on my radar. Maybe it’s the bad press that PETA always gets. They do seem like nut cases. But my friend is definitely NOT a nut case and she is a member of PETA, so I heard her out.

She asked me why I would ever want to use any product for my house or myself that contained ingredients so toxic they weren’t safe to test on humans. Slam. Now there’s an argument I can’t argue with.

She’s right. All of us “organic nut cases” could take a page from the “PETA nut cases” book here. If we want to avoid toxic, dangerous chemicals and products, we truly should only buy products that are certified “cruelty free”. Even if we don’t mind animals being abused and mistreated in the name of science, we should feel alarmed that it is necessary in the first place. Nothing that requires the sacrifice of an animal’s life to secure our safety is something we should be messing with in the first place.

You won’t find me breaking in to animal testing laboratories or splashing paint on fur-coated rich people, but at least on this issue, I must side with the PETA people. From now on I will seek out products certified “cruelty free” and err on the side of the animals and my health.

An Examined Life

I was able to spend some time with a good writer friend this weekend. We spend a lot of time scheming about how to get great writing jobs and this adventure was no exception. We attended a Creative Writing workshop with author and poet, Melissa Greene (www.writefromtheheart.us). There were an interesting group of people in attendance. They were all people who loved to write and loved to use their imagination. Melissa talked about the creative writing process and said a lot encouraging things. She then led us in some exercises to help us find our “creative focus”. I enjoyed the opportunity to let my mind wander, unfortunately everything it wandered to was pretty depressing which was a surprise considering it was a gorgeous afternoon, I was hanging out with a friend I don’t get to see enough of, doing one of my most favorite things with someone who could be a potential mentor. That’s the thing about your mind though – it rarely goes where you tell it too. So sometimes you have to just follow it where it takes you and believe there is a reason.

The overall message of Melissa’s workshop (and I would say her “ministry”) is that writing is healing. It helps us to process what’s going on deep inside. Especially when you are writing for no one but yourself. I’ve kept a journal all my life. Every now and then I think about burning that huge box in the basement because really – why am I hanging on to those journals? I wrote those words for myself so that I could process my own emotions and ideas. I’m fairly certain they would be ungodly boring to anyone else, except maybe back when I was young and single and wrote about my dating exploits. But those entries might get me in trouble and I certainly wouldn’t want my children to happen upon them. Which brings me back to the question – why don’t I burn them? Maybe I will some day. Or maybe I’ll leave directions in my will that they be burned. Or maybe I shouldn’t really care because I won’t be around to be embarrassed by them.
If you’ve never kept a journal, I would encourage you to try one. Here’s why – life is going by much too fast. We are all in a hurry and there’s too much on our plates. When we stop for 10 minutes just to write what’s rushing through our minds it forces us to be present. To be here in the now instead of already planning what’s coming next. A journal doesn’t need to be great writing. In fact, it’s very freeing to know you can write whatever you want, capitalize what you want, put commas wherever you want, and no one’s going to judge. (I just got some critiques of my novel back from a contest I entered and they were all over my horrible use of, actually lack of, commas. I felt judged, but that was the point. Now, though, I’m feeling I should put a comma in every possible place,.) But with a journal you can leave your grammatical hang-ups behind and write stream of consciousness. Heck, you could do away with punctuation altogether. That might be a good way to confuse anyone who reads your journals upon your untimely death. Ah, now there’s an idea!

Anyway, today’s kid-friendly organic life idea is that you should keep a journal. If a journal is intimidating, find a scrap of paper and make a list of the words that run through you mind. Or look around you and list the things you see. It will force you to be present. Try this with your kids. In fact, this is a great summer project idea! Find a journal for your kids – you can buy a fancy one, or pick one up at the dollar store (they always have blank books) or just grab an empty notebook. Find a pen that feels good to write with and start journaling. When I got my daughter started, I bought a blank book that had a gray cardboard cover, used stickers to write, “Addie’s Dream Journal”, and then added all kinds of animals and flower stickers and left space for her to write. Inside the cover, I told her to fill it with whatever came to her mind and heart.

I think we have to help our kids be intentional in their living. They are much busier than we were at their age. I keep trying to figure out why that is and I think it comes back to expectations. When I was a kid, you had all the time in the world and no one was really paying attention to what you were doing and whether you were using your time wisely. Nowadays, kids have so many options - sports, camps, after-school activities, music lessons, religious groups, scouts, and instruction in everything from foreign language to computer programming. Although I think I limit my kids, we still have an activity every evening except Tuesday, so obviously I’m not practicing what I preach here.

I don’t know if all this activity is bad really. Who’s to say? I doubt there’s been any long-term studies done. What I do know is that we need to help our kids to pay attention and be present at whatever they choose to do. And journaling is one way to make that happen. It helps us sort out what our heart really wants and gives us permission to say what we think, uncensored by manners or expectations. It’s a safe place for our creative and contemplative spirit. And that is a spirit that must be nurtured if we intend to be happy (and sane).

Here’s one important final note – and I’ll write it in caps so you know I’m yelling this at you. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER READ YOUR CHILD’S JOURNAL! Trust is key. This journal is meant for no one’s eyes but its authors. No matter how tempting – promise me you’ll never read your child’s journal.

I have some really special journals I keep in a fire safe. I could lose pretty much everything other book in my house, but not these three journals. They are the journals that I write to my children. I started a journal for each child when I first learned I was pregnant. I write in their journal of all my worries and wishes for them. I write about funny or poignant things they say or do. And I write the things I wish they would sit still for me to tell them. I write lots about how much I love them and how proud I am of them. I write observations about the things that seem to make them happy or sad or angry. I hope that some day no matter where this life takes us they will have this physical record of how much I love them and how important they have been to me from the moment they were conceived.

I hope this post inspires you to start (or re-start) your own journal and encourages you to get your kids journaling too. There is potential in any thought. It was Socrates who said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Kind of tough love reinforcement for journaling I’d say. Life is such an amazing, rich, boring, incredible, complicated, beautiful thing. I, for one, think it’s worth examining.

The Battle for Screen Time Rages On

The showdown at the OK Corral happened here almost two months ago. I really didn’t think they had it in them to hold out like this. My children have been without computer games for so long now, I’m not sure they even miss it. They could hold out indefinitely. I’m losing this bet, but I’m beginning to realize this may not be such a bad thing.

Two months ago I had a Mommy Melt Down Moment. I’m sure you’ve had one yourself, so I don’t need to make excuses (but I will anyway). I got up one morning and I didn’t know it but I had reached the breaking point. As I made a pass through several bedrooms picking up towels off the floor and tripping over the baskets of clean clothes yet to make it in to their drawers, my blood boiled over. When I encountered them in the kitchen where they had left their dishes on the table, pencils on the floor, and shoes abandoned in front of the door I began my assault. They retreated to their default positions of “It wasn’t me”, “I never touched it” and “I was going to do that when I finished (fill in the blank)..”

When my verbal assault produced no action, I had to go for the heavy artillery. “No computer until you start doing your share!” I spelled out a lengthy peace treaty which involved them doing their part (i.e. the dinner chore assigned to them, putting away their clean clothes, picking up their belongings, etc.) and in return they would be given their computer privileges. Until then the computer would stay locked down.

As I said, that was two months ago. In the beginning they stubbornly tested my resolve. I fumed, they whined, but I didn’t weaken my position one inch. If they wanted this hill they would have to acquiesce to my demands. Which they didn’t. At first I was outraged – all I was asking them to do is not be slobs and pick up their own things! It’s not like I was asking them to scrub the kitchen floor or clean a toilet (or a chicken cage for that matter!). Ridiculously lazy! Who did they think was going to pick up their belongings? (Yup, the only person who cared that their things were strewn all over in the first place.)

So I did the picking up and I put things away, although I did hold the line on the laundry and hid my daughter’s clean clothes until she begged to put them away herself. And then a funny thing happened. My husband and I noticed that the kids were fighting less. They were playing together. They were exploring the woods again. They re-discovered the joy of the zip line. They wrote stories. They played games. They played legos. They talked to each other and to us. And they stopped even mentioning the computer and all the exciting games. They acted out their favorite fantasy game Balder’s Gate all over our property. It was as if a fog had settled over our battlefield and made all the soldiers peaceable.

My oldest son does use a computer for homework and I’ve taken to giving him 20 minutes before the others get home from school to play Balder’s Gate, but only because he’s finally putting his laundry away the same day I put it in his room and refraining from leaving his vast quantities of stray papers (he would say stories, theories, ideas, strategies, etc.) all over every surface of the house. It’s a very thin truce.

I write all this as a reminder to you – you hold the power as the parent. You decide what you allow and what you don’t. There is no constitutional law that says your children have the right to watch TV, play video games, computer games, whatever. You give them that privilege (and I bet you purchased that privilege) and you can take it away. That gives you tremendous leverage. Remember that you only have leverage if the child in question values the privilege you are holding over them. We don’t have TV or video games, so my leverage lies with the computer games.

If you don’t want to fight with your kids about what they eat – don’t buy it. If you don’t like the clothes your daughter chooses to wear to school – don’t provide them. If you want more help around the house create some consequences. If you don’t want your kids to spend endless hours in front of screens – don’t let them. I think we forget that, at least for now, we hold the power in these relationships. Everything is not negotiable. We have lots of opportunities to teach our children about dealing with frustration, boredom, personal responsibility, unfulfilled wishes, and shattered expectations. Handling inevitable disappointments and logical consequences are life skills many adults I know don’t own.

I know this might sound hard and you don’t really want to be the “meanest parent in the world”, but here’s your out - when you create and clearly explain consequences you can stop being the bad guy. That’s why my standoff over doing your part is working and no one’s holding it against me (well, OK, my daughter occasionally argues the finer details of “doing your part”). I think they’ll cave eventually. I know I won’t. There is peace in the land because there is no bad guy here. There’s just a set of decisions and logical consequences. They know that it’s within their power to regain their computer privileges and they know that the only reason they don’t have them is not that their mom is so mean (that’s a given), but because they don’t want to pick up their things. It might be frustrating, but it’s fair.

It might be shooting myself in the foot, but I’m hoping they never get their computer privileges back. Without the technologically induced emotions of the screen, they are much nicer children. And they have discovered how much fun they can have without electronics. It’s funny, since we took away the computer games I’ve hardly heard my kids say, “I’m bored” once. They’ve remembered how to create their own fun.

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent and the Emporers New Clothes

I’ve discovered an inexpensive, effective, homemade recipe for dishwashing detergent. When we got rid of the toxic chemicals in our house, dishwashing soap was one that still hung around. I didn’t know how to do away with it, unless I did away with the dishwasher and I’m just not ready for that. I love my dishwasher. It was the first dishwasher I ever bought and when the salesman told me it would be “quieter than bacon sizzling”, I bought it that day. I remember trying to yell above the racket of the dishwasher in our old house, so the noise level was my priority. I think it’s a little bit noisier than bacon, but still it’s one of my favorite appliances. The jury in my mind is out on whether it’s better for the environment to use the dishwasher or wash everything by hand. I’m guessing the amount of hot water utilized in either option is pretty much the same with the number of dishes we create (especially when you have children washing dishes). Anyway, back to the dishwashing detergent.

Dishwashing detergent as a genre is pretty tough. When you really need a powerful cleaner for a stain, you turn to the power detergent because it’s super strong stuff. It’ll burn your hands if you’re not careful. It’s great for soaking plastic toys or metal parts. I think it pretty much just eats the stain and grime away. Basically it’s dangerous stuff. Which is why I’m thrilled to tell you about the homemade version. Here’s the recipe:

Equal parts Borax and Baking Soda.

That’s it. I just got home from the store where I bought two big boxes of baking soda and a box of Borax for less that $6. This will probably last me six months. So it’s cheap, but does it work? We’ve been using my trial size batch for about a week. Just last night my occasionally skeptic hubby said, "I’m going to leave these plates really gross and see if the wonder detergent can handle it." The results? This morning everything was clean as can be.

The first go round with the homemade detergent got the dishes clean, but the glasses didn’t look sparkly. We decided to try the other cheapo all-purpose cleaner and added vinegar to the rinse aid dispenser. Wallah! Beautiful glassware! You can now stop paying through the nose for a teeny tiny bottle of rinse aid that’s filled with toxic chemicals and perfumes. Vinegar works just fine.

I’m guessing that way back when the first dishwasher was invented, the detergent used was Borax or another similarly simple soap. We uber-consumers are always looking for next best thing and if it has a catchy jingle all the better. In the end, though, we end up back where we started. I don’t necessarily want to do away with the entire dishwashing detergent industry, but it does seem a little like an emperor without clothes.

For Anyone Who Takes Earth Day Seriously

I spent the day in beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. I picked up my mom and headed to the Central Market in downtown Lancaster, said to be the oldest farmer’s market in the country. I bought delicate buttercrunch lettuce in picture-perfect heads for $1.35 a piece and a big bag of just-picked-this-morning spinach for $2. I couldn’t resist a scone from the pastry lady and spent too long considering the beautiful locally grown herbs before choosing a pot of chives. As we walked around and took it all in, I have to say I expected more Amish and I expected it to be easier to know which venders used organic and sustainable methods. I studied the signs, but only one booth proclaimed “no chemical sprays” which really could mean anything. I chose to believe the gentle man bagging the lettuce was a kindred spirit. Farmer’s Markets are a great idea, but it was obvious that even in this storied market many of the products were not from around here.

Our next stop was Roots Auction and Market, held every Tuesday. This place was something to see. Parking was a challenge as it seemed everyone in Lancaster County was at Roots (pronounced “Ruots”, but I never figured out why). Roots is a MASSIVE combination of flea market, farmer’s market, and bazaar. I am certain you could have purchased just about anything you wanted there. We saw just about every species of fruit and vegetable, but also leather jackets, Tupperware, imitation beanie babies, Egyptian Cotton Sheet Sets, plastic flower bouquet for tombstones, knife sets, incense, perennials, live turkeys, and pickles by the pound. And then there was the flea market that stretched as far as the eye could see. We ventured in to it briefly, but were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer mass of junk and shock that so many people were shopping for junk on a beautiful Tuesday morning in Lancaster. Roots is something to see and if you are ever in Lancaster on a Tuesday, I highly recommend the experience. I did end up walking away with a big plastic jug of garlic pickles (crispy and delicious – the kids loved them), a bag of pretzel ‘balls” (just had to try them), raw milk cheese, strawberries (from Florida), and local asparagus. I asked many of the vendors where their produce came from but some of them seemed annoyed that I expected anything to be local. The nice Mennonite lady who told me she’d picked the asparagus herself and her strawberries came from Florida won my business.

After the chaos of Roots, it was a treat to arrive at Breakaway Farms in Manheim, just north of Lancaster. I discovered Breakaway Farms (http://www.breakawayfarms.net/) through http://www.gowild.com/. Gowild is a great place to start if you are interested in buying grass-fed meat and dairy products near you. I’d been e-mailing with Breakaway’s office manager for several weeks arranging this visit. She was very helpful and welcoming and encouraged me to come see the farm and meet Farmer Nate before I placed my order. When we arrived at the picturesque and remarkably tidy farm, we encountered two adorable children in barefeet (one dragging a tricycle and toting a fishing pole).

Nate met us and gave the tour. Breakaway Farms grows poultry, pork, beef, lamb, goats, and rabbits. Nate is a mechanical engineer by training and this was obvious to me (having grown up with engineers and married one) as he showed us the farm. I coveted his automatic watering system for his chickens (rigged up with hoses and the same plastic waterer I fill two times a day at home). He explained how the chickens were currently “grazing” the same area where the cows had been recently. His electric wire pens were completely moveable and relocated daily to take advantage of the previous tenants leavings,. Chickens do a great job breaking up cow pies and eating up the bugs that infest them, thus saving the farmer the trouble of picking up or spreading the manure which acts as fertilizer. Nothing beats nature for natural efficiency.

We watched the chickens for awhile and my mom remarked at how odd they looked –only partly covered with feathers and supported by enormous feet. Nate explained that chickens have been bred to be fast growing broiler birds and as such feathers are not really a necessity and are bred out of them. I’m guessing as they age they can balance their fast growing bulk on those enormous feet better than average chicken feet. Plus, everything I’ve read (and Nate confirmed) indicates chickens bred for meat can’t really even walk much by the time they are full-grown because they are designed to have unnaturally large breasts. (I know what you are thinking - seems the general population is partial to large breasts in chickens too). At this rate our poultry business will have completely feather free, obscenely large breasted birds ready to pop on the grill in just a few more generations.

Next we admired the beef cattle and Nate explained how they are moved from one field to the next periodically. We’re getting ready to do the same thing with our horses to prevent the pasture from being overgrazed. He proudly told us that these cows had been grass fed for several generations and he could trace the papa bull’s ancestry to England and further back than most people. We walked inside to see the pigs who had just moved in where the cows had been living previously. Their job was clear. They were to enjoy the muck. A job which clearly makes pigs very happy. They were busy happily rooting through the accumulated cow manure. Nate explained that what is left is piled up an allowed to compost and become “black gold” which will then be spread on the fields as super fertilizer.

Another area of the barn contained rabbits in eye level cages. I’m not a rabbit fan – not for eating and certainly not as pets – but I was amazed at the system they had going here. The rabbits manure fell down through the bottom of the wire cages and living under the cages was a flock of chickens to – you guessed it- consume the rabbit manure. Might seem disgusting, but in reality it is nature doing what it does best – recycling. Nate explained that if the chickens weren’t in here, the rabbit manure would be waist deep by now. He also informed me that lots of people disagree with me when it comes to rabbit meat – apparently there’s a great market for it.
After our tour, we purchased some grass fed meat products and nitrate free pork products. We talked with Nate about Breakaway’s buying clubs and his ideas of starting a home delivery business. A big part of Nate’s job is education. The general public doesn’t know enough about grass fed products. Grass fed products are much healthier for you (see my post Save the Planet – Eat Beef! On February 4, 2010), but more than that, they are better for the environment. Instead of raising their animals in feed lots and dumping the accumulated waste in such large amounts it poisons the land and water, Breakaway makes the most of their pasture by rotating the animals and allowing them to recycle and redistribute the waste, not only strengthening the land they graze on, but creating natural fertilizer for the farm land surrounding them.

This isn’t new. This is the way farms used to be run, before the concept of a factory farm even existed. This is the way farmers fertilized their fields before the toxic insecticides and chemical fertilizers rendered the ground sterile. But it takes more time to raise a grass-fed animal for market. And time for a farm is money. Although farmers like Nate save on the cost of traditional fertilizers, they spend more on organic feed, man-power, and the number of days it takes to bring an animal to market. Not to mention, they don’t have the marketing power the major meat producers control. I’m here to tell you that sustainably run farms are not making their fortune by charging you higher prices; they are simply trying to stay alive. I have yet to meet a farmer who is in this for the money.

If Earth Day means anything to you, I beg you to consider patronizing farmers like Nate. Farmers who care for the animals and the earth, and not just making a buck. They need our support. They need us to vote with our pocketbooks for more sustainable farming methods. This is a win-win-win situation. The farmers win when we enable them to make a living, the earth wins as we support farming methods that heal it, and we all win when we consume grass-fed, chemical free products that make us healthier.

Conscientious buying is not easy. I’ll be the first to admit it takes time. It also takes effort – you need to think before you buy. It might mean visiting more than one store, farm, or market to get the things your family needs. It might mean doing a little homework and asking a lot of questions. But it’s the right thing to do.

As I thought about Nate’s ideas for home delivery of homegrown vegetables, meats, and dairy, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I thought this is great – people always complain that eating this way is too hard and too inconvenient. So many times I hear from people, “I wish I had time to do what you do to feed your family.” And here is the answer – home delivery! But on the other hand, home delivery of organic produce, and grassfed meat and dairy products will be expensive. I’m not sure whether people are willing to put their money where their mouth is. But I hope they will. I hope Nate’s business becomes the standard for how we buy our food.

Note: If you are local and interested in forming a buying club here in Southern York County with me to purchase products from Breakaway Farms, let me know. If you’ve got questions or need help finding grass fed, sustainably grown food, I’d be happy to chat with you, too.